


Dusk-stained Skyways

by theoceanpath



Series: Constellations Dance on Your Skin [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 11:04:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19462663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoceanpath/pseuds/theoceanpath
Summary: ✨





	Dusk-stained Skyways

On the afternoon of his seventeenth Tanabata, rain pours from the sky in a battalion of waves so thick and fierce, denying him the chance to see anything other than the waxy milk-ash haze flooding the city in shades of the striped fabric his family makes. The shower clears for a few hours that night but everything is wet and sticky and clumps of mud attack his shoes with every step he takes.

"I hate the rain," he mumbles to himself in frustration, vainly attempting to shake off the brown splatters painting their own highway on his ankle.

"Me too," someone agrees in badly-accented Nihongo.

He takes note of the man's Western features and guesses the stranger is one of the European tourists who pay homage to the legend every year. _Where are you from?_ his brain wants to inquire in English, but his tongue scrambles the words and what comes out is "You see Tanabata."

"Yes. I came to watch your festival. I heard Sendai has the best version of the Festival of Stars in the country."

He should probably introduce himself by now, but the other guy beats him to it.

"Hola. Or should I say, _koñishiwa_? _Ha-hi-me-mashite_? I'm Prometo de La Mancha. From Espania." He looks so sincere, and a bit embarrassed, and the slight wince proves he's aware of his own linguistic mistakes but hasn't had enough practice to correct them.

"My name is Orijin. From Ori-hime. Nice to meet you," he replies, hoping his few memorized English phrases are a lot better than Prometo's awkward Japanese.

" _Origin?_ " Prometo repeats, seeming quite surprised.

"Yes. Like weaver star princess in sky," he explains.

"A weaver princess? I have never heard of such a thing."

Prometo seems interested, so Orijin proceeds to tell him the Tanabata story. "Weaver princess Orihime love a man who play the flute. He take care of the cows of king of the sky, but when he meet sky king's daughter, he forget the cows."

"Oh, you mean the cows of Helios, the sun god. The ones that Odysseus' men found on the voyage back to Ithaca," Prometo volunteers, but none of those names sound familiar to Orijin.

"I don't know Odishu… Odishuusu. Or I… Itha—? I know Hikoboshi was cowherd who play the flute and marry the beautiful princess."

He's nearing the sad part of the ancient tale, but Prometo smiles all of a sudden and comments, "Lucky guy. The flute-player I know was a half-goat with horns on his head. He liked this girl but she didn't love him back so in order to escape she was turned into a plant. He used the stalks to create a musical instrument, and that's how the flute came to be."

Orijin tries to imagine Hikoboshi as a goat and ends up laughing. "Hikoboshi do not look like that! He is handsome and he play very beautiful music that one night star princess come to visit him and fall in love."

It's such a romantic story and judging by Prometo's expression, he's enjoying the story so far.

"Sounds like the famous musician. Ever heard of Orpheus, who went to the Underworld to ask the king of the dead to save his wife?"

Orijin shakes his head. No, unfortunately, none of their legends seem to match at all.

"Well, according to the story, when he was killed his lyre was placed in the heavens as the constellation Lyra. An eagle was sent to fetch it and that's the eagle constellation, Aquila."

 _Eagle. Lyre._ Paired constellations. It feels like puzzle pieces falling into place. Finally there is something that connects them after all.

"Lyra and Aquila? That where you find the stars Vega and Altair! Those are stars of Tanabata!"

"Really? So _my_ eagle and musician are _your_ weaver princess and cowherd?"

"I don't know how to play lyre. But I play _koto_ ," he tells his new friend, taking secret pride in the fact that he's one of the few men who still bother to learn it. "They are similar, aren't they?"

"I suppose they are," Prometo agrees. "Well, if it's any help, I may not be cattle rancher, but I'm a matador. A bullfighter."

"So you're Hikoboshi?" jokes Orijin.

"Depends. Should I call you _Your Highness_ from now on?" Prometo teases back.

"Do you like music?"

"Have you ever been to a rodeo before?"

The banter goes on through the night, muddy pavement and waterlogged booths nearly forgotten, and Orijin barely notices when the separated lovers finally meet on the bridge across the Milky Way.


End file.
